无妄 → 比
Hexagram 25: Innocence → Hexagram 8: Holding Together
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 6).
Line 1
初九 无妄。往吉。
Nine at the beginning means: Innocent behavior brings good fortune.
Line 4
九四 可貞。无咎。
Nine in the fourth place means: He who can be persevering Remains without blame.
Line 6
上九 无妄。行有眚。无攸利。
Nine at the top means: Innocent action brings misfortune. Nothing furthers.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
持刀操肉，對酒不食。夫亡從軍，長子入獄。抱膝獨宿。
Holding a knife, handling meat; facing wine yet unable to eat. The husband has gone to war; the eldest son is in prison. Clasping her knees, she sleeps alone.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Holding knife and meat, facing wine yet unable to eat — a feast laid before someone too grief-stricken to touch it. The husband has gone to war; the eldest son is in prison. She can only embrace her knees and sleep alone. From Innocence to Holding Together, the transformation is achingly ironic: the hexagram of bonding and alliance arrives precisely when every bond has been severed. Water upon earth gathers people into community, but this woman sits apart, her family scattered by the state's demands. The verse captures Wuwang's darkest implication — misfortune that strikes the blameless. Yet Bi's structure also hints at what remains: the capacity to hold together within oneself when all external bonds have failed.
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